Prosecution Insights
Last updated: October 02, 2026
Application No. 19/226,520

Method of Controlling Autonomous Vehicle and Vehicle Therefor

Non-Final OA §102
Filed
Jun 03, 2025
Priority
Jul 17, 2024 — RE 10-2024-0094128
Examiner
NGUYEN, TAN QUANG
Art Unit
3661
Tech Center
3600 — Transportation & Electronic Commerce
Assignee
Kia Corporation
OA Round
1 (Non-Final)
91%
Grant Probability
Favorable
1-2
OA Rounds
10m
Est. Remaining
98%
With Interview

Examiner Intelligence

Grants 91% — above average
91%
Career Allowance Rate
1055 granted / 1164 resolved
+38.6% vs TC avg
Moderate +7% lift
Without
With
+7.1%
Interview Lift
resolved cases with interview
Fast prosecutor
2y 1m
Avg Prosecution
18 currently pending
Career history
1181
Total Applications
across all art units

Statute-Specific Performance

§101
4.0%
-36.0% vs TC avg
§103
37.1%
-2.9% vs TC avg
§102
44.5%
+4.5% vs TC avg
§112
4.9%
-35.1% vs TC avg
Black line = Tech Center average estimate • Based on career data from 1164 resolved cases

Office Action

§102
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA . DETAIL ACTION Notice to Applicant(s) This application has been examined. Claims 1-20 are pending. Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102 The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action: A person shall be entitled to a patent unless – (a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention. Claims 1, 10, 11 and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Joo (2023/0177963). As per claim 1, Joo discloses a method performed by an apparatus for controlling autonomous driving of a vehicle which includes the steps of determining whether a side lane is in a traffic congestion situation based on road information associated with the side lane, object information associated with the side lane, and vehicle information associated with the vehicle, wherein the side lane is within a threshold distance from a driving lane of the vehicle (see at least the abstract; figures 4, 5; paragraphs 0060, 0063, 0069); generating congestion control information based on the road information, the object information, and a determination that the side lane is in the traffic congestion situation, wherein the congestion control information is related to a longitudinal control of the vehicle (see at least figure 3; paragraphs 0054, 0056, 0075-0082); generating operation-based longitudinal control information based on a plurality of speeds, wherein each speed of the plurality of speeds is respectively derived from the congestion control information, the road information, the object information, and the vehicle information (see at least paragraphs 0019, 0021, 0025; and controlling, based on at least the operation-based longitudinal control information, autonomous driving of the vehicle (see at least figures 6 and 12). As per claim 10, it is inherent that if there is an absence of the traffic congestion situation, a difference control information is generated for the autonomous driving of the vehicle. With respect to claims 11 and 20, the limitations of these claims have been noted in the rejections above. They are therefore considered rejected as set forth above. Claims 2-9 and 12-19 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims. Conclusion Claims 1, 10, 11 and 20 are rejected. Claims 2-9 and 12-19 are objected. The following references are cited as being of general interest: George et al. (2021/0129843) and Hashimoto et al. (2023/0115658). Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to TAN QUANG NGUYEN whose telephone number is (571) 272-6966. The examiner can normally be reached on Monday to Thursday from 7:00am to 5:30pm. If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Peter Nolan, can be reached at 570-270-7016. Information regarding the status of an application may be obtained from the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) system. Status information for published applications may be obtained from either Private PAIR or Public PAIR. Status information for unpublished applications is available through Private PAIR only. For more information about the PAIR system, see http://portal.uspto.gov/external/portal. Should you have questions about access to the Private PAIR system, contact the Electronic Business Center (EBC) at 866-217-9197 (toll-free). Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice. July 6, 2026 /TAN Q NGUYEN/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3661
Read full office action

Prosecution Timeline

Jun 03, 2025
Application Filed
Jul 08, 2026
Non-Final Rejection mailed — §102 (current)

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Study what changed to get past this examiner. Based on 5 most recent grants.

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Prosecution Projections

1-2
Expected OA Rounds
91%
Grant Probability
98%
With Interview (+7.1%)
2y 1m (~10m remaining)
Median Time to Grant
Low
PTA Risk
Based on 1164 resolved cases by this examiner. Grant probability derived from career allowance rate.

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